The Perfect Bride - Chapter 36

‘Oh dear. So she’s already dated and married Ian all on her own.’

Charlotte smiled warmly as she looked at her cousin, thinking just that.

“Since he’s looking for a way to marry her, of course he’ll propose. To that young lady.”

Charlotte, of course, knew Sophia hadn’t meant that proposal. Naturally, it wasn’t pleasant to drop such a bombshell on a cousin she hadn’t seen in ages.

Sophia’s fair face flushed bright red.

Charlotte pitied the young lady who was experiencing her first true disappointment. But while she felt sorry that the girl had suddenly lost her sense of direction, she had no intention of helping someone who wanted nothing more than a ‘prince charming.’

‘There’s already more than enough people to comfort and support her.’

Charlotte cast a glance at the nanny standing behind Sophia. The elegant noblewoman was excellent at masking her expression, but she was surely seething inside.

Pretending to notice nothing, Charlotte wore a harmless smile and held out her hand to Sophia.

“Well then, Sophia, Their Majesties the King and Queen of Grand Batten are waiting for you. Let’s head to Oberon Palace.”

“…Yes, Charlotte,” Sophia replied with a face that looked on the verge of tears.

Charlotte took a sweeping look at the immense crowd surrounding the central station, then turned her gaze back to Sophia, who was climbing into the carriage.

The thunderous cheers of Dwan’s citizens for the Princess of Fossa, and the fragile figure of the princess who made onlookers’ hearts clench.

‘If Sophia starts getting stubborn, Miss Daus is in for a tough time.’

She had fired the cannon as Ian had asked, but Charlotte couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy.

***

In the city, blond, blue-eyed handsome boys are a dime a dozen. But he is different.

Someone whispered beside Natalie’s ear.

That’s right. He was different. Natalie found herself nodding unconsciously as she recalled him.

‘Miss Daus.’

Out of nowhere, the perfect blond, blue-eyed man appeared before her, casting a subtle smile. Somehow, he looked even more seductive than usual.

‘Natalie.’

As she stared blankly at him, he called her by name. Natalie glanced down suddenly and swallowed hard.

The naval cadet uniform of Grand Batten was a navy coat and white trousers. The way the coat hugged the shoulders and chest, and the way the trousers clung to the thighs, revealing every contour of the lower body… It was, in Natalie Daus’s opinion, a rather indecent uniform.

And he was now wearing that very indecent naval cadet uniform.

When she blinked in disbelief, she found herself cornered against a wall. Her face was trapped between his firm chest and the wall, and his muscular thigh had wedged itself between her legs.

With no room to move, her chest tightened painfully. A feverish heat rose from her belly to her throat, layer upon layer.

Overwhelmed by the strange sensation, Natalie gasped.

At that moment, he slowly lowered his head toward her. Like prey caught in a trap, Natalie couldn’t move a finger. She endured the slow approach of his breath brushing her neck.

‘What are you thinking about?’

A ticklish voice, hot breath, and his words landed on her neck, which was throbbing wildly.

“Hah!”

Natalie’s eyes flew open.

In the bluish early dawn, she gasped for breath. Her pitch-black pupils trembled as violently as her ragged breathing.

Soon, her breath began to steady.

Blankly staring at the ceiling, Natalie slowly pushed herself up. Her body, which had heated up during the dream, cooled rapidly, sending a chill down her spine.

“What on earth kind of dream…”

She muttered, staring in disbelief at her trembling fingertips. Her face twisted at the undeniable evidence.

She had dreamed about the prince.

Of course, it wasn’t strange for the prince to appear in her dreams. She saw his face every day—of course he might show up.

…But why on earth had she dressed him in a naval cadet uniform in her dream?

The moment she asked herself that, the dream replayed in her mind.

That relaxed Prince Ian in the scandalous cadet uniform.

Fueled by the provocative image, her imagination ran wild in three seconds, spinning out an entire torrid romance novel between a golden-haired cadet and an innocent country maiden meeting at a training camp.

And it didn’t stop there. The muscular, chiseled cadet sneaked into the lady’s bedroom in the middle of the night, pried her lips open, and pushed in his tongue…

“Enough!”

Just as she was gleefully describing even the mixing of tongues, Natalie screamed. Alarmed by her own runaway fantasies, she clutched at her blanket.

“You’re insane. Natalie Daus, you’ve really gone mad.”

Ever since the ‘David’ trial three years ago, Natalie had treated delusions as taboo. It was almost as if she had lost the very engine of her imagination.

But suddenly, after three years of drought, a flood burst in her mind. There was no stopping the outpouring of fantasies that surged like a natural disaster.

It was all because of that day.

A laugh burst from her lips—she couldn’t believe it.

Ever since she saw that ridiculous face laugh along with her, ever since he had lifted her up so effortlessly, she’d been like this.

Smiling innocently like a boy one moment, then slyly like a seductress the next… and picking people up like it was nothing…!

Aside from casual hugs with family or friends, that was the first time she’d ever been held like that. Of course her heart would race.

“There you go again. I told you not to react.”

The moment she thought of the prince from that day, her heart started pounding on its own.

Just like when she was young, dreaming up impossible fantasies of a ‘prince’ she only heard about in stories, he had become her inspiration again.

This time in a completely different direction. And with ample visual references, everything was especially vivid.

Feeling alarmed, Natalie eventually leapt from bed and began pacing.

“At this rate…”

It’ll look like I like him. Natalie was nearly in tears.

After all, her heart fluttering over the prince was a very serious issue.

She admitted she had committed the sin of eavesdropping on the conversation of nobles.

But this was the same prince who had threatened her life, treated her like a clown, and used her to damage her reputation—a heartless man.

And yet her heart fluttered for someone like that? What was she thinking?

“If you keep this up, you’re not even human anymore, Natalie.”

Three years ago, she had come to deeply understand how foolish she’d been. But she never imagined she would also be spineless and pride-less.

How pathetic. Was she born to be a pushover?

Natalie stood there for a while, eyes welling up, frozen. Then suddenly, like someone shot through the heart, she collapsed. She lay still like a corpse for quite some time.

“…Anyone would’ve reacted that way. Right?”

Thinking back to the first time she saw him, her pounding heart didn’t feel so absurd after all.

The moment their eyes met, hadn’t his beauty completely robbed her of thought and feeling? True, the moment they were alone, her heart shattered to pieces—but in that instant, it happened.

Couldn’t this all be considered an involuntary physical reaction?

“Yeah. If someone with that face smiles at you like that, how could your heart not flutter? You’d have to be blind.”

After agonizing in self-loathing for what felt like forever, Natalie finally decided to blame it all on the prince.

‘I don’t actually like him. If it were really love, it’d be something more… Anyway, it’s not.’

She felt a little better. Maybe she could finally sleep. Natalie slowly crawled back into bed and pulled the covers up to her head.

“Ugh. This is insane.”

But not long after, she threw the blanket off again. Her stirred-up body wouldn’t calm down so easily.

Natalie ended up staying up the entire night.

***

…This visit is official in nature, and Princess Sophia is currently staying at Windsorbell Palace as a guest of Queen Violet. With Prince Ian’s crown prince appointment approaching, talks of marriage with Princess Sophia are expected. Attention is focused on how the prince will resolve the ongoing scandal…

Dorothy couldn’t finish reading the article and set the scandal magazine, Noble Cut, down. She stared at the illustration of Prince Ian and Princess Sophia on the cover with a serious look.

The very Princess Sophia everyone said would marry Prince Ian had come to Dwan—now of all times. She couldn’t help but sigh.

‘What if this snaps Prince Ian back to his senses?’

Dorothy spent her days both thrilled and terribly anxious. She had caught the interest of no fewer than four gentlemen, but it was too early to feel secure. No one had proposed yet.

It had already been over a month since the start of the social season. Any gentleman seriously intending to marry this season would be considering a proposal by now.

And at such a critical moment, what if Prince Ian lost interest in her sister, and Catherine stopped serving as her chaperone?

‘Just imagining it is horrifying.’

Right then, Natalie entered the breakfast room, scratching her head. Dorothy, lost in thoughts of a terrible future, froze at the sight.

“What happened to your face?”

“W-what about it?”

Startled by Dorothy’s shocked expression, Natalie visibly panicked.

“You look like someone who danced at a ball until five in the morning.”

“Is it that bad?”

“You might want to cancel today’s plans. If the prince saw you like this, he’d run for the hills.”

The moment Dorothy mentioned ‘the prince,’ Natalie’s eyes darted away in the most unnatural way.

What’s wrong with her now? Dorothy, baffled by her sister’s bizarre reaction, stood up abruptly.